Dec

26

First, let’s review my predictions from the first Sports Extravaganza and how close I was:

  1. Joe Torre out, Joe Girardi in. Book it

Correct

  • Cubs won’t be bought by Mark Cuban. They will be bought by an investment group

    • Has this been resolved yet?

  • Tony Romo is an average to above average QB (not another Bret Fare or Hall of Famer) surrounded by good players with a phenom offensive coordinator, Jason Garret.

    • The jury is still out on this one. But he is looking better now to me than he used to. I’ll still reserve judgement.

  • Jason Garret is a phenom offensve coordinator being groomed to be a head coach by Jerry Jones

    • I still think this is gonna happen.

  • La Russa is out. I don’t know who is in but here is a wild pick. . . . . Ozzie Smith

    • I cannot express my joy that I was wrong about this one. I am very happy that La Russa is still the manager.

    Now on to Baseball and Steroids.  As for the Mitchell Report I think it was fine and I don’t have a problem with it.  The biggest complaint I have heard was that there was nothing someone who was accused in the report could do to refute the charges.  I’m sorry but that is simply not true.  The fact is each of them were invited to speak to Mitchell about the accusations BEFORE the report was released.  That was their time to refute any charges in the report.  I know most, if not all, declined to speak to Mitchell.  I’m sorry but that’s their fault.  They had their chance and they “declined”.  Maybe they shouldn’t have followed the advice of he Union on that one.

    The second issue I have heard is that the report does nothing to help solve the problem.  I also disagree with this this assertion.  The fact is it offers up possible solutions and ways to improve the situation even more than the steps taken by baseball the last couple of years.  It provides political capitol to the Comissioner and owners over the union to actually implement these solutions.  I understand the position of the union to protect the players and their privacy but that protection does no good if at best it brings into question the integrity of the sport and at worse make Congress step in to do something about it.

    Speaking of Congress: I have seen comments about “what business does Congress have looking into baseball and steroids?”  The fact is MLB is exempt from anti-trust laws.  They have a legalized monopoly.  Whenever you are “allowed” to do something by the government they can at any time chose to not “allow” you to do it anymore. From that perspective anything that Congress doesn’t like about MLB they can use their legal leverage to change it.  I’m not saying they should or that it’s right, I’m just pointing out the conditions of the situation.

    Finally, the people name in the Mitchell Report:  Basically, the report layed out any information they could legally get their hands on.  They did not have the legal power of supena or search warrants.  The information they got mostly centered around New York teams and people connected to them. That’s because the primary source they had was based out of the New York area.  If they had access to more sources then more people in more areas would have been named.  I have no problem with them being named.  I lays all information that MLB has access to out on he table.  Now you can’t blame MLB for glossing over the problem. 

    Many have brought up the “innocent util proven guilty” phrase and the idea that revealing names does no good.  I disagree.  The fact of the matter is if they hadn’t released the names to the public then we would know that baseball was hiding something.  By releasing the names and the condition of which they aquired those names we know how good or bad the evidence against the named players are and judge it for ourselves.  There is not “guilt” or “innocence” associated the players named in the report.  The report is simply he evidence and it is up to each person to decide how valid the evidence is.  If you assume some player is guilty due to some list you read on the internet then YOU are guilty of ignorance and I (and anyone else for that matter) can’t do anything to stop you from being ignorant.

    I don’t think any official “penalty” needs to occur to the players named.  The evidence of what thay may or may not have done is in the report for people to judge on their own.  There is currently a testing program in place for them to either pass or fail.  Possible improvements suggested in the report may be implemented and they will be under those test improvements.  From here forward when they are considered for the Hall of Fame or any other position then the evidence of their past deeds are known and the individual who has to make that judgement can consider them and weight the accordingly.


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